CAF members are expected to be prepared to miss meals and work irregular or prolonged hours. Duty comes first. But even when duty is done, the stress of service can interfere with shut-eye. Sleep deficiency can slide into sleep deprivation without many individuals noticing. But around the world, military organizations and veterans affairs departments are beginning to take notice of the effects of lack of sleep.
The Canadian Armed Forces introduced adequate sleep as part of the new fitness strategy introduced in Another showed that 22 to 24 hours of sleep deprivation has the equivalent effect on performance as a blood alcohol level of 0.
Driving a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol level of 0. Symptoms of chronic sleep deprivation include irritability, cognitive impairment and memory lapse.
Soldiers may also experience micro-sleep episodes, in which they fall asleep for a few seconds. Sleep problems plague many people in uniform and persist after they leave the military. Adults aged 18 to 64 need seven to nine hours of sleep, and seniors 65 and over need seven to eight, says the Public Health Agency of Canada. But a quarter of adults between 18 and 34, a third of those aged 35 to 64 and a quarter of adults over 65 are not getting enough sleep.
And veterans—and their families—are more likely than civilians to suffer sleep problems, said Brown. A massage of the hand may help, as Brown and a team of U of A researchers found in a recent study funded by Veterans Affairs Canada involving 50 veterans and their family members. Sleep of all participants was monitored, and half the participants were taught a Shiatsu massage technique to add to their nightly sleep regime.
